In some computer-networked environments, a user may request via a client device access to one or more heterogeneous resources by submitting a request to a server host. The client device may be, e.g., a personal computer, and the heterogeneous resources may include various electronic components, software, and/or other physical devices or assets, such as, e.g., storage devices, processors, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), parts for an assembly line, computer programs, and/or data. A server host may allocate a requested resource to a user (i.e., to a client device) if the resource is available. In some known computer-networked environments, if the resource is not available, the request may be denied, and the user may have to re-submit the request at one or more later times until the requested resource is available. In addition to delaying the user's task involving the requested resource, the inconvenience of having to re-submit one or possibly more requests for that resource may also prevent the user from attending to other tasks.
In some known computer-networked environments, a server host may process a request for multiple heterogeneous resources from a first user as separate individual requests. As those separate individual requests are sequentially processed, an intervening request from another user for one or more of the same resources may result in the first user being denied access to one or more of the first user's requested resources. Again, the first user may have to inconveniently re-submit one or possibly more requests until access to all of the requested resources is granted, thus delaying the first user's task involving the multiple resources.
Also, in some known computer-networked environments, users may not be able to request access to one or more specific resources, but only to one or more general types of resources. For example, a user may only be able to request access to a “programmable logic controller” (PLC), but not to one or more specific PLCs configured in a certain way or having certain features relevant to the user's task. This may significantly delay a user's task while the user may have to repeatedly request access to the general type of desired resource until access to the one or more specific desired resources of that type is granted.
Furthermore, in some known computer-networked environments, access granted to a user for a requested resource may not result in the user having direct and/or exclusive access to that resource, but instead, may only result in the server host having access to the requested resource to perform a task submitted by the user. Although the user may monitor the status and ultimately review the results of the performed task, the user may not be able to, e.g., make real time changes or additions to the task while the task is being performed by the server host.
Accordingly, improved apparatus, systems, and methods of allocating heterogeneous resources in a computer-networked environment are desired.